Italy threatens Apple with potential ban over warranty dispute

Italians have a right to a 2-year warranty, and Apple isn't bringing it.

Italy's Antitrust Authority is officially taking Apple to task over the company's alleged failure to offer two-year warranties on its products under Italian law. The authority confirmed on Tuesday that it had opened proceedings against Apple, which will potentially face fines of up to $378,000 or even be suspended from selling its products in Italy if the company doesn't meet the criteria for offering a two-year warranty to customers.

Apple was fined $1.2 million in December of 2011 by the Regional Administrative Tribunal for allegedly misleading Italian consumers about their rights to product warranties. At that time, Apple was offering its standard one year of support and urging customers to purchase AppleCare Protection Plans for longer-term coverage. But according to Italy's 2005 Consumer Code, companies are liable for defective products for two years after the time of sale. The fine led Apple to alert Italian customers to their right to two-year warranties via the company's online store, but that wasn't enough for the Antitrust Authority.

The authority argues that Apple Sales International, Apple Italia, and Apple Retail Italia had been requiring customers to provide proof of the existence of a defect outside of the standard one year, as noted by IDG. Although communication between Apple and customers had improved, the group said Apple still wasn't doing enough.

"Apple has 30 days to present its counter-arguments and it could face a fine of up to a $189,000 for each of the two practices under examination," antitrust spokeswoman Emanuela Goggiomani told IDG. "If the company continues to breach the Antitrust Authority's order, further proceedings could lead to a 30-day suspension of trading in Italy."

Unsurprisingly, Apple doesn't agree with the decision to crack down on its own warranty practices. The company says it has appealed to the Authority over its decision to continue to pursue the case, and that it "disagree[s] with their latest complaint."

Promoted Comments

If you read the Italian site (e.g. for the iPhone) it tells you there's a two-year warranty. AppleCare adds "telephone support". The text is clear, but the little bars showing length of telephone support definitely gave me the impression that was the warranty length, even though it was labeled otherwise. My Italian isn't so hot, though, maybe it would have been clearer if it were my first language.

Anyway it seems like the complaint now is that Apple makes people jump through some hoops. Is that really true, or do we have people bitching because the company won't replace something they destroyed? It may be hard to tell without looking at every case individually.

Even what looks like a pattern might be more a matter of scale. Apple sells such high volume that they'd likely have a lot more complaints than pretty near any other company even if they did better than average. And I can say that I've had them have me jump through hoops, here in the US, even within a couple of months of purchase.

For instance, I had to drag a Mac G5 Quad through a mall to the Genius Bar in order to get them to replace the optical drive. (For those of you who don't know, those damn things are HEAVY, you don't want to drag it very far.) I was told that the machine and drive had to be presented as one unit. This even though I could have sent the drive in to Apple by mail without sending the whole machine.

It's a bit aggravating but consider it from a fraud reduction point of view and it's not entirely unreasonable. There is one hell of a lot of fraud in warranty requests, you can see that just sitting at the store for a few minutes.

Maybe the Italian operation is different but I've had Apple be more than reasonable in handling warranty issues over the years, even in cases where it could easily be argued (and I might even agree) that it was my fault. AppleCare or not didn't seem to matter, it was covered or it wasn't, and sometimes they even did "goodwill" coverage when legally they didn't have to (replaced a whole Mac mini outside of warranty just a couple of months ago, even, although that one had been a rash all over their repair department).

199 posts | registered Dec 6, 2005

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui

62 Reader Comments

Hmmmm.... I wonder what brought about the change to two-year warranty period.... and whether it would be a good idea to require companies to offer a two-year warranty in the United States/Canada? I can hear the retailers scream if this was brought up, as it would cut into their extended warranty sales for suckers.

Perhaps it is time for Apple to learn that in Europe, and Italy especially, you don't flaunt your transgressions at the government. Microsoft learned it the hard way. Perhaps Apple needs a similar lesson?

So, it sounds like Apple is saying "Please buy our 2-year Applecare" without actually wanting to finish "... for no real reason, because we have to legally give you a 2-year warranty anyway."

Am I missing something? Apple seems very good at separating people from their money

Here in Belgium there's a 2 year warranty as standard also (Apple doesn't advertise it either sigh). But IIRC Apple care extended is 3 years, so you in fact get an extra year on top of the warranty period ordered by law...

And, for the record, everything should have a 2 year warranty. None of this 90 days bullshit. IMHO.

So, it sounds like Apple is saying "Please buy our 2-year Applecare" without actually wanting to finish "... for no real reason, because we have to legally give you a 2-year warranty anyway."

Am I missing something? Apple seems very good at separating people from their money

Here in Belgium there's a 2 year warranty as standard also (Apple doesn't advertise it either sigh). But IIRC Apple care extended is 3 years, so you in fact get an extra year on top of the warranty period ordered by law...

And, for the record, everything should have a 2 year warranty. None of this 90 days bullshit. IMHO.

Same for German/Austrian law (although it can be reduced to one year for some products [no electrical devices though] for strange legal reasons -.-), seems to be a rather recurring theme - some EU directive at work?

The difference in the 2 year mandated warranty and Applecare, is that you (the customer) first have to prove that the defect existed at time of purchase, and the warranty is not with the manufacturer, but the retailer (which in this case is the Apple Store).

I think Apple should make it a bit more obvious what is covered under which warranty but I think the Italian Agency is also overstepping by saying that its unfair that Apple is requiring the customer to show the defect existed at time of purchase in order to claim under the mandated warranty as thats exactly what EU law says the warranty is for.

That and you can buy Applecare anytime in the first 12 months of owning the product, so its not as much of a hard-sales pitch at initial time of purchase as other companies may try.

If you read the Italian site (e.g. for the iPhone) it tells you there's a two-year warranty. AppleCare adds "telephone support". The text is clear, but the little bars showing length of telephone support definitely gave me the impression that was the warranty length, even though it was labeled otherwise. My Italian isn't so hot, though, maybe it would have been clearer if it were my first language.

Anyway it seems like the complaint now is that Apple makes people jump through some hoops. Is that really true, or do we have people bitching because the company won't replace something they destroyed? It may be hard to tell without looking at every case individually.

Even what looks like a pattern might be more a matter of scale. Apple sells such high volume that they'd likely have a lot more complaints than pretty near any other company even if they did better than average. And I can say that I've had them have me jump through hoops, here in the US, even within a couple of months of purchase.

For instance, I had to drag a Mac G5 Quad through a mall to the Genius Bar in order to get them to replace the optical drive. (For those of you who don't know, those damn things are HEAVY, you don't want to drag it very far.) I was told that the machine and drive had to be presented as one unit. This even though I could have sent the drive in to Apple by mail without sending the whole machine.

It's a bit aggravating but consider it from a fraud reduction point of view and it's not entirely unreasonable. There is one hell of a lot of fraud in warranty requests, you can see that just sitting at the store for a few minutes.

Maybe the Italian operation is different but I've had Apple be more than reasonable in handling warranty issues over the years, even in cases where it could easily be argued (and I might even agree) that it was my fault. AppleCare or not didn't seem to matter, it was covered or it wasn't, and sometimes they even did "goodwill" coverage when legally they didn't have to (replaced a whole Mac mini outside of warranty just a couple of months ago, even, although that one had been a rash all over their repair department).

Quite legalese as usual (I read it in German because my legal English is rather weak, so any unusual phrases can be attributed to that in the following), but basically it guarantees a two year limitation period and for the first six months the burden of proof is on the side of the manufacturer. So Apple should probably be careful how they handle the situation here as it's not only Italy..

and whether it would be a good idea to require companies to offer a two-year warranty in the United States/Canada? I can hear the retailers scream if this was brought up, as it would cut into their extended warranty sales for suckers.

They should definitely make it a law. Its one of the example of a low cost regulatory law pretty much benefiting everybody. This and the regulation of GSM are some of the areas where Europe laws >>>> US laws.

And Apple quit being the hurt bitch, suck it up and give 2 years of warranty without any bitching or procrastination just like any other company out there in Europe.

The difference in the 2 year mandated warranty and Applecare, is that you (the customer) first have to prove that the defect existed at time of purchase, and the warranty is not with the manufacturer, but the retailer (which in this case is the Apple Store).

I think Apple should make it a bit more obvious what is covered under which warranty but I think the Italian Agency is also overstepping by saying that its unfair that Apple is requiring the customer to show the defect existed at time of purchase in order to claim under the mandated warranty as thats exactly what EU law says the warranty is for.

This isn't accurate. EU consumer law doesn't have anything about proving it was defective when purchased. However, if the product breaks within 6 months of purchase it is deemed broken when bought.

Hmmmm.... I wonder what brought about the change to two-year warranty period.... and whether it would be a good idea to require companies to offer a two-year warranty in the United States/Canada? I can hear the retailers scream if this was brought up, as it would cut into their extended warranty sales for suckers.

Nah, we have similar legal policies in NZ and there are still plenty of people stupid enough to buy extended warranties.

If Apple, or anyone for that matter, is going to sell a phone that is attached to a two year service contract then they should warranty it for the full two years. I had my noise cancelling mic fail two weeks after the warranty ran out, and it caused both the phone function and the video recording to record/pick up only very annoying and quite loud white noise. Never was dropped, never exposed to anything other than ambient moisture, and didn't have a scratch on it. Apple told me I could either deal with it, or pay them $200 for the phone. I already paid $400 for it, and there was no fucking way I was paying another $200 to have a functioning telephone. Instead I bought another mic from iFixit and had it fixed in less than an hour. Still works great and my mom uses it now. This 90 day/1 year warranty shit needs to stop, especially on devices that have mulitple year service contracts attached to them. It's not unreasonable or selfish to demand that a $200+ device last at minimum two years if well taken care of.

"If that's the law of the land, then Apple must follow it or pull out. Even companies as large as Apple don't get to choose which laws they follow."

Being an American company...that's exactly what they will do. Any other company would've complied. Apple decides they don't want to...they place a call to the State Department and get them to force the country to do what Apple wants.

If Apple wish to contest this, then basically what they are saying is that their products don't last more than a year.

When they are making products that are in the top tier of pricing for their type, then that's an appalling message to send.

imho, a two year warranty doesn't go far enough (although arguably, for cheap goods it does go too far - if you are buying something very cheap, you should kind of expect it to be disposable).

What we should have as standard, is a graduated warranty system. For example, an extra year of warranty for every £200 that something costs, minimum of one year (or possibly 6 months for things under £100), up to a maximum of 5 years:

That would focus manufacturers to produce reliable goods, or where some components may possibly be inherently fragile (e.g. a mechanical hard drive or fan), to make it cost effective to replace them (arguably contrary to Apple's trend of making everything non-user replaceable).

The authority confirmed on Tuesday that it had opened proceedings against Apple, which will potentially face fines of up to $378,000 or even be suspended from selling its products in Italy if the company doesn't meet the criteria for offering a two-year warranty to customers.

Suspend their sales until they meet all requirements, BUT make that $378,000 fine per device sold in Italy.

They'll just raise all their prices in Italy to include what it would be if the consumers bought AppleCare. And then they'll still sell AppleCare warranty extensions (for the 3rd year) for even more.

As a stockholder this makes me happy. Thanks, Italy.

Why would they raise their prices because of this. They already have had to provide 2 year warranty everywhere in EU. SInce 1994. This is about honesty in Apple's marketing, it in no way changes Apple's legal obligation to 2 year warranty.

If the quality of their product is high, why is this an issue? Oh, right, because Jobs himself said his intention was that you'd by a new iPod every 18 months, iirc. This was before the iPhone was out, and people started muttering about the battery life of the iPod.

While I'm still a little young to start talking about "back in my day", I do find it depressing that this is the attitude now - when it dies, throw it away and buy a new one. A while back, I picked up a stereo system at a garage sale - turntable, tuner, and reel-to-reel in a real wood cabinet. I found the original receipt from Montgomery Ward inside, dated 1965. It still works. If I tracked down a couple replacement tubes, it would work like it was brand-new. On the other hand, just a couple weeks ago, I was thinking it maybe wasn't so bad that I got 4-ish years out of a 21" LCD.

But, something nearly no one disputes is that Apple has quality product. Now that they've got $40+ billion in the bank and they're making something like $7 million an hour, 24x7, they can't suck it up and give people the extra year warranty required by law? And spell it out plainly, without some sleazy warranty-pushing like a clerk at Best Buy?

Good god, it will be sweet nectar when Apple slips and falls from their tower...

The difference in the 2 year mandated warranty and Applecare, is that you (the customer) first have to prove that the defect existed at time of purchase, and the warranty is not with the manufacturer, but the retailer (which in this case is the Apple Store).

The unconditionally warranty is 6 months, + 18 months for defects that were present from the day of purchase.

What you're saying isn´t really correct though. Lets take a harddrive as an example. A harddrive might fail after 16 months after working until then. As a consumer this comes under the 24 months defect warranty because if a harddrive doesn't work for 24 months, then it must have been defective from day one.

To extrapolate on that. Any product that fails through normal use within 24 months must logically have been defect from the start, if the consumer ought to expect it to last longer.

Hmmmm.... I wonder what brought about the change to two-year warranty period.... and whether it would be a good idea to require companies to offer a two-year warranty in the United States/Canada? I can hear the retailers scream if this was brought up, as it would cut into their extended warranty sales for suckers.

Nah, we have similar legal policies in NZ and there are still plenty of people stupid enough to buy extended warranties.

The extended warranties covers more than the standard consumer protection.

If you purchase a 3 year warranty on something relevant like a laptop, you are also protected from accidents and general misuse.

and whether it would be a good idea to require companies to offer a two-year warranty in the United States/Canada? I can hear the retailers scream if this was brought up, as it would cut into their extended warranty sales for suckers.

They should definitely make it a law. Its one of the example of a low cost regulatory law pretty much benefiting everybody. This and the regulation of GSM are some of the areas where Europe laws >>>> US laws.

And Apple quit being the hurt bitch, suck it up and give 2 years of warranty without any bitching or procrastination just like any other company out there in Europe.

Just because some things are done in "Europe" doesn't mean they should be done in America. Americans and their government will choose what is right for them in their country.